The Monthly Stack: April
This month, I read two books
I really can’t believe it’s May!
I’m happy that we are officially in spring, but I can’t help but feel like there’s so much to do, and I’m behind.
Spring is a funny thing: a true place of transition. I should feel like I’m on the cusp of summer, ready to let my hair down, flow freely, and chill. Instead, I still feel like I’m at the edge of winter, just now getting my muscles warmed up and finding my groove.
Part of the sluggishness I feel has been in my reading. Despite my promise to read every night before bed, I’ve failed most nights.
I did get very excited about the second book I finished in April. TBH, nothing gets me out of a reading slump like picking up a book that everyone is talking about.
Read my reviews:
Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson
I spent most of my April reading Good Dirt, not because I couldn’t get through it, but because this month absolutely flew by.
This is my book club’s pick for the month, and it was exactly what I needed to pull me out of reality. Work has been relentless lately, and I needed the escape. I can’t tell you how many times I was in the office daydreaming about Ebby Freeman.
For my full review, click here.
What I’ll say is this: the book is really good. It weaves so many themes together in a way that feels grounded without ever becoming too heavy.
She thinks about waves coming and going and feels her body being pulled toward the water. And she understands that she needs to go back to Connecticut. She needs to go see her parents. She needs to talk to them. But not yet (241)
Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash
2026 has been the year of fiction hype, and Lost Lambs has risen straight to the top.
The title's ambiguity intrigued me, but given the demographic I saw championing this book, I wasn't sure it was for me. I finally picked it up after my friend Eden posted about it on socials. I asked for her honest take, and she told me it was worth a shot.
After finishing it last week, I’d say she was 100 percent right. It’s not a book that you need to drop everything for, but if a copy finds its way into your hands, open it.
In Lost Lambs, the plot is wacky. You’ll never guess what happens next, and every page brings some bizarre, unexpected sequence of events (I’m still wrapping my head around YoursTruly). But what kept me turning pages was the writing itself, not the story. The sentences are so distinct, and somehow capture the balance of sarcasm and sincerity that I exchange with my close friends.
What I also liked about this novel is that the title doesn’t only apply to the daughters. I assumed that this would be a coming-of-age story centered on Abigail, Louise, and Harper, but we also get a handful of chapters from Bud and Catherine (their parents). We see how their marital tensions and mid-life restlessness are quietly shaping their household. The way their attempts to recapture youth and freedom are, at the same time, chipping away at their children's confidence. It was genius.
I’ll admit I tend to underestimate debut novels by white millennial (zillennial?) authors, especially when the characters are quirky, and the themes feel forcibly trendy. But every now and then, one of them gets it exactly right, and Cash certainly did.
Whatever made this family freaks seemed to be making them very something … very something indeed. Something where something had no business being. Like how people who almost freeze to death report feeling warm. That was what it was: warmth (320)
Thanks for reading, see you in May!